


Goodbye California Dreams

by Vanfu



Category: The Hitcher (1986)
Genre: Gen, Not as violent as the movie but close, takes place after the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 23:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7912303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanfu/pseuds/Vanfu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim felt like going back to sleep when a disgusting notion began chewing in the back of his head. He tried to push it back but with no distractions it gnawed it's way forward.</p><p>What will they do with John's body?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodbye California Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I'm currently in Hitcher hell. Enjoy!
> 
> Edited: 8/8/18

The kid know what was going to happen next and he waited patiently. A cigarette dangled from his fingers forgotten. Jim sat on what was left of the stolen truck's hood. He stared at the hitcher's body laying in the road, wind blowing sand around him.

The sound of police sirens were not far off. Screeching tires, slamming car doors, clicking revolvers. Captain Esteridge was among the arriving officers. Someone must had picked him up on the way over. There were shouts directed at the kid, but he didn't hear a thing. They manhandled him off the truck hood and cuffed him. Jim didn't take his eyes off John Ryder until he was in the back of a cruiser. The ride back to headquarters was a blur. Jim fell asleep as soon as he was pull in a jail cell.

* * *

He awoke hours later, groggy and aching all over. There was no one in sight outside his cell.

They must all be putting in their two cents about what to do with me, the kid thought.

Jim felt like going back to sleep when a disgusting notion began chewing in the back of his head. He tried to push it back but with no distractions it gnawed it's way forward.

What will they do with John's body?

It's probably laying on a cold slab by now, filled with bullet holes. They'll still have to cut him open to determine the cause of death, right? Or maybe there isn't even a body at all. Maybe Jim dreamed the man up to hide himself from the gilt of killing all those people. That one didn't seem likely though. The kid could clearly remember that knife threatening to cut his eye, his throat, his dick.

Jim tried closing his eyes again. He could see the look of disappointment on Ryder's face and hear Nash's screams. He should have let her call her father. She was just helping out a stupid kid.

* * *

Two officers came to take Jim to be questioned. Captain Esteridge decided to lead the questioning himself. Asking all the who, what, when, and whys. The kid tried to concentrate, he really did, his fate was on the line, but all he could think about were dead bodies.

Jim never got to see Nash's body. Was it ripped in the center or did her limbs pop from their sockets? Would she be able to have a open casket funeral. Nash was a pretty girl. She'd be buried in a family plot with her headstone covered in fresh red roses. People would visit Nash's grave on the anniversary of her dead and maybe on her birthday.

It felt wrong for John to be in a casket. What will they do with the ashes if they cremate him? They should have left his body in the desert to rot. Vultures picking out those disgusting eyes. Jim wondered how much blood that sand has soaked up in his lifetime alone.

The kid was so deep in thought that someone had to slam their hands on the table to snapped him out of it.

"Jim, we're doing our best here. It would help if you payed attention," said the caption. "Do you understand the situation you're in?"

The situation he was in was horrible. He'd probably be locked up for a few years. All the charges were dropped before he went and pulled that final stunt. Who knows how long his trial will take. All the families of the people the hitcher killed would be there wanting justice they couldn't get. Jim felt more hopeless now then he ever did with John Ryder.

He let himself break, sobbing like a child. He shook all over. His whimpers and groans sounded gross to him. Captain Esteridge moved his chair to the other side of the table closer to Jim. The kid looked him the eye, tears streaming down his face.

"Could I see their bodies?" he asked softy.

"Why?"

"I just need...just need to make sure they're really dead."

"I'm not sure what I can do. You know what happened last time I helped you," said Esteridge.

Jim nodded his head. The kid looked miserable, a bright future was thrown out the window and a past that would surely haunt him. The captain took pity once again on him.

"Someone call the medical examiner for me and see if she'll let us come over," ordered Esteridge.

* * *

"Thank you for letting us see you at such short notice."

They were at the city morgue at the dead of night. This case has had everyone working around the clock trying to get as much fresh information they could.

"I'm glad you did, I was wanting to ask the kid some questions," said the medical examiner while removing her gloves to shake hands with Esteridge, "I just in the middle of my autopsy of this John Ryder fellow. I haven't seen anything this strange in a long time."

Ryder's body lay on a gray metal table in the middle of the room, his bare chest filled with holes, old scars, and bruises. Thankfully his eyes had stayed shut. His face looked the same as when Jim had left him only paler. Jim started to move towards the body when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. The officers were still wry of the kid.

The examiner began explaining all of hitcher's injures to the captain. Jim tried to listen when that disgusting notion started chewing in the back of his head again. What will they do with the body when they're done?

The two officers had their guns resting at their sides. The kid's hands were cuffed behind him. Next to the examining table was a tray of scalpels, clamps, and other metal objects. Jim formed a quick plan he hoped would work, he was already out of the frying pan into fire anyway.

"Can I see Nash please?" Jim asked softly.

"Are you sure?" asked the examiner with a worried look. She heard that he passed out before seeing the girl's dismembered body. The kid nodded his head. They moved to another table in the room. A white sheet covered Nash's body, the examiner pulled it down just enough to show her face. Nothing looked peaceful about the girl.

Jim started crying just as he did back at the station. Esteridge rested a comforting hand on his shocking shoulders. Both officers looked away from the scene and the examiner excused herself from the group. They let Jim cry it out from a few more minutes.

"You said you had some questions to ask," said Esteridge. Everyone turned their attention back to the living woman in the room. Jim stayed closer to Nash than the others. He glanced behind his back to see the tray of tools next to her table and slowly grabbed what look like an icepick from it. The officers were busy giving their versions of the ordeal, which were all wrong of course, that no one heard the click of one of Jim's cuffs coming undone.

He waited for the perfect moment, when Esteridge rested his hands on his hips. His suit jacket pulled aside exposing his gun for the kid to grab.

"Stand where you are!" Jim shouted. The officers were about to pull their own guns when the captain gave them a look.

"Jim, do you really understand the situation you're in? You're already in hot water, so just give me the gun and we'll forget this ever happen."

"No! You have no idea what I've been through. You don't know what sick thoughts that man has put in my head."

"Calm down, we can-" The captain didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before Jim shoot him in the knee. The man fell to down screaming in pain.

"You little piece of shit!" One of the officers yelled. Jim shoot him in the shoulder when he saw him trying to get his gun out. The kid aimed at the second officer who put his hands up.

"You!" Jim shouted at the examiner standing next to Ryder's body, "Put that man in body bag!"

"But, but—"

"I don't care just do it!"

The examiner rushed to the other side of the room were the supplies were and returned with a big black bag. Ryder was a head taller than the woman who struggled to put the body in the bag by herself.

"Help her put him in," Jim order the uninjured officer. The two hurried to get the body in the bag. The kid turned back to the captain.

"Give me your car keys." Esteridge throw them at Jim's feet glaring at him with pure hatred in his eyes. The kid picked them up not caring what people thought of him anymore. He had a mission and he was going to complete it.

"Now take him out to the car," Jim told them when they were done. They awkwardly moved with the bag between them towards the doors that lead to the hallway. The kid kept his gun on the officer and the captain as he walked away. He hold the door open for the other two.

The hallway was empty and no one stood in their way to the parking lot. Outside was dark with a bright moon casting shadows. Jim had them put the body in the truck of the patrol car. He ordered the two back inside before he got in the car and started it. He pulled out onto the empty highway, headed to nowhere.

* * *

The kid drove for hours, not sure of what was keeping him awake. The sun was beginning to rise when he pulled into a closed gas station. He broke the glass of the door to the convenient store with the butt of his stolen gun. Jim walked up and down the aisles looking for something. He found it next to the empty gas cans, a shovel the size of his forearm. Beats digging with yo bare hands. He returned to the car, prize in hand along with a few snacks.

He only drove for a few more miles on the road, the car didn't handle very well in the sand. He stopped when he no longer see the road or anything really. The kid turned the car off and sat in silence for awhile watching the sunrise.

Jim grabbed the shovel and got out. He had to sit on his knees to use the short tool, drugging for what felt like hours, stopping when the hole reached his waist when he stood in it. He went back to the car to eat his snacks, exhausted. Halfway through a bag of chips he realized he should have waited to eat. I'll probably throw up when I have to touch his body or from the smell.

He popped the truck and walked to the rear of the car, with a queasy stomach lifted the body bag out. He half dragged, half carried it to the hole. Jim kneeled next to the bag, taking a deep breath before he unzipped it.

John Ryder's body was even paler now. Jim could see where his shoots ripped through the man's body. The kid braced himself as he picked up the body in his arm bridal style.

  
He hung his legs over the edge of the hole and slid down. The hole he dug wasn't prefect but it was at least big enough. Jim set the body down as lightly as he could. Jim's foot slipped in the loss dirt. He caught I got himself, he ended up having to straddle the body before he fell completely on it, hovering over the man's waist.

The kid took a moment to stare at John Ryder. The last few days were insane. He remembered when he picked the hitcher up, the awkward silence from the man. The strange touches from him. You're a smart kid... figure it out. Jim didn't think he did.

It felt gross but Jim did it anyway, he kissed the man's forehead and got out the hole. He shoveled the sand and dirt back in, trying not to look at the body. It took less time then digging it out. When he finished sun was only the horizon now. He gave the grave one final pat before getting into the car and driving away, never looking back.

He drove until he could barely see the road in the distance. He stopped the car and stepped out, taking the shotgun that was on the driver's side door with him. Jim shoot the middle of grill and dropped the gun on the ground.

The kid started the long walk to the road to hitch a ride to anywhere.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how autopies go but I've been around cadavers for college bio. 
> 
> Edited: 8/8/18  
> Edits: Mostly checking for errors. I removed the part that mentioned John being dissected for his examination, I felt it was a bit extreme given the time frame of barely a day. 
> 
> Feel free to point out any errors and again honest criticism is more than welcome.


End file.
